A NEW campaign wants to make it more acceptable for men to talk about their mental health.

Officially launched at a breakfast event yesterday morning, the Men’s Mental Health Swindon campaign consists of a poster bid and a week of events aimed at raising the profile of men’s wellbeing.

It hopes to tackle historically higher suicide rates among men. Between 2015 and 2017, almost three times as many men took their own lives in Swindon than women.

Speaking at the launch event at Fig Offices, near Swindon Railway Station, campaign co-founder Charlie Paradise said of the personal tragedies: “Each of these individuals is an individual story and an individual loss to their family.

“What we know and hear time and time again we hear families saying, ‘I had absolutely no idea they were struggling, I thought they were fine.’ That’s the most heartbreaking part about it.”

Ms Paradise, who works in Swindon Borough Council’s public health team, said they wanted to make it more socially acceptable to talk about mental health.

She wants people worried about their friends’ mental health to ask the question twice: “How are you? How are you really?”

You didn’t need to be a professional to be a supportive ear to a friend struggling with their wellbeing, Ms Paradise added: “That’s what this campaign is saying.”

Business and charity leaders heard from Nick Fisher, a mental health first aider at Thames Water. Mr Fisher, who said he had suffered a breakdown, called for phrases like “man-up” to be axed from the corporate lexicon – in the same way that words like “brainstorming” had fallen out of fashion.

“If we want to talk about stigma, look at the words we use with each other every single day,” he said.

Scott Cowley, founder of the Rusty Goat poetry events, spoke of his own breakdown – on August 30, 2016: “It was a day when my life changed. I was sat on the cliff edge at Beachy Head.” He had since been supported by the mental health crisis team and therapeutic projects Twigs Community Gardens and IPSUM: “I’m still here.”

The Men’s Mental Health Swindon campaign runs all this week, with events across the town. The campaign, although initially supported by the borough council, will live on beyond this week under the auspices of a new community organisation. For more, visit: www.mmhswindon.co.uk.